Each year the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays raise awareness of the financial struggles that many families face. This year, WCC students and staff are continuing their time-honored tradition of making the holidays better for families in Washtenaw County and for soldiers a long way from home.

The drafting table in Jack Donaldson’s office at Carlisle/Wortman Associates is covered with drawings and schematics for structures nearing the end of their planning cycle. But they won’t pass on to the next stage until he says so, a responsibility he takes very seriously.

On the first floor of the Crane Liberal Arts and Science building, a group of students is standing around, sketchpads in hand, studying a row of very large and colorful pictures of prehistoric animals. Geology students? Maybe. Biology class? Could be. But this particular group is an illustration class closely examining the styles of the various artists who contributed to this exhibit.

An eight-member consultant-evaluator team from the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association is recommending that Washtenaw Community College be granted an unconditional 10-year accreditation renewal, the maximum allowed by the HLC. The team, consisting of community college administrators and faculty from the central United States, will now pass its recommendation on to the HLC for final approval, which is expected to occur in February 2010.

It’s 2:45 on a Wednesday afternoon and Stephanie Mae is reminding her 450 Facebook friends that she’ll be on the air at Orchard Radio in 15 minutes. Mike Pickett and his buddy, Matt Gilson, are on the mics behind her rehashing the Tigers’ heartbreaking loss the day before and the controversy surrounding star slugger Miguel Cabrera. They are surrounded by posters of Led Zeppelin, Rob Zombie, and Pillar of Autumn, among others, and are oblivious to the parade of students, faculty, and staff walking past the half-wall windows that give them a birds-eye view of the Student Center first floor.

On Nov. 9, 1989, the world watched as the Berlin Wall, that impenetrable symbol of the Cold War, fell when East Germans flooded through an opened checkpoint. WCC art history instructor Elisabeth Thoburn, who lived behind the Iron Curtain for 25 years, will give a lecture at WCC on that historical event and its impact on Dresden, the town where she grew up.